Railway-artillery



G. R. LUKESH.

RAILWAY ARTILLERY.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT-5, 1919. v 1 97,488, I Patented Nov. 15, 1921.

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RAILWAY-ARTILLERY.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 15, 1921.

Application filed September 5, 1919. Serial No. 321,995.

(FILED UNDER THE ACT OF MARCH 3, 1883. 22 STAT. L, 625.)

T 0 all whom it concern:

Be it known that I, Gus'rAvn R. LUKESH, Colonel, Corps of Engineers, United States Army, a citizen of the United States, stationed at Charleston, S. C., have invented an Improvement in Railway- Artillery, of which the following is a specification.

The invention described herein may be used by the Government, or any of its ofiicers or employees in prosecution of work for the Government, or by any other person in the United States, without payment of any royalty thereon.

This invention relates generically to certain improvements in railway artillery and deals more specifically with the transportation by railroad of heavy guns and their carriages, and the expeditious mounting there of on previously prepared emplacements.

The principal objects of this invention are the provision of a system and means for transporting heavy guns by railway cars (of special design but suitable for movement on existing railways) and to mount the guns expeditiously, without removal from the car, on a previously prepared gun-block or emplacement of suitable design and construction, by centering the gun-carriage over the emplacement and lowering the car (and the rails it rests on) with its load until the weight of the gun and the carriage, and consequently the shock of firing, are taken up by the gun-block and its foundation. Similarly the rapid removal of the gun and its carriage from the emplacement is effected by raising its car and its track until the track again takes the weight of the car and its load, when the car'may be hauled to such other point as the gun may be needed, or to the reserve.

This method of temporary mounting of heavy guns has its principal application in harbor defense, where the gun-blocks and related structures may be constructed in time of peace. In such cases, the guns may serve harbors, or other landing places already provided with a normal quota of fixed defenses, or otherwise undefended, or may be supple mental to the armament of the mobile army. The guns will be limited incaliber and size only by the weight and size which can be safely transported over and through bridges and other critical parts of existing railroad systems, the car being specially constructed to carry the necessary dead load.

The invention is obviously also applicable to siege operations when other conditions permit the use of time necessary to prepare the gun-blocks, and is also applicable to the operations of'mobile troops where they par take of the character of siege operations, that is, where the artillery is to be used for the bombardment of special points of tactical lmportance or localities where it is known there are very strong concrete or underground shelters and emplacements.

The invention is not limited to the size or type of artillery employed, but is applicable to guns, howitzers, and mortars. Nor is it limited to the type of mount used, whether it be barbette'or disappearing type. If a disappearing type of mount is used, the counter-weight would be a permanent part of each emplacement, the gun and carriage without the counter-weight being alone transported by car.

The advantages of the method proposed are mamfold, as its use would permit the construction in time of peace of as many emplacements as the need therefor could be foreseen, and for alternative use if shifting of the firing point becomes desirable, the guns for the emplacement being brought from the reserve or from other places where not needed as rapidly as railroad transportation could bring them. The actual time of emplacing the gun would be very brief, consisting only of that necessary to lower the track a few inches and to secure the anchor-' ing means for maintaining the mount in place.

A further object of this invention is the provision of a mobile type of heavy gun mount using previously prepared fixed, stable emplacements providing a gun platform for all around fire.

The necessary railroad spurs and cut-offs joining the main line railroad and the firing points would be constructed in time of peace, insuring their correct location for strategic purposes and their proper construction for withstanding the strains imposed.

Other objects of the invention are to obviate the use of derrick cars for removing the gun from the car; or of jacks (for which, also, adequate foundations are essential) to sustain the car when the gun is fired.

Artificial cover or camouflage for the gun, if needed, could be prepared in advance, as could bomb-proofs for ammunition and perto prevent spreading and turnin sonnel. However, ordinarily, concealment would be available and sufficient, and personnel, ammunition, and other supplies would be sheltered in box or special cars pertaining to the gun train.

Figure l a plan view of an emplacement made in accordance with this invention, the gun, and the car for transporting it, being indicated in dotted lines;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal central section of the emplacement shown in Fig. l with part of the gun-mount proper shown in full lines in position for lowering on the bed-plate. and the railroad car and its trucks being shown in dotted lines;

Fig. 3 is a central crosssection at right angles to Fig. 1, showing the gun-mount or pedestal lowered and secured to the bedplate, and the ear in which it was transported relieved of the weight of the gun and its mount;

Fig. 4: is a detailed plan view of the sections of the bed-plate;

Fig. 5 is a detail in plan view showing a possible arrangement of railway spurs for a group of gun emplacements, branching off from the main line of the railway.

Referring to the drawings wherein a single embodiment of the invention is illustrated, numeral 1 designates a gun mounted in any suitable manner on a carriage or pedestal 2. The gun and carriage are transportable by means of the railroad car 3 provided with the usual trucks 4 over the ordinary and existing railroad tracks indicated at 5. At suitable points along the main line of the track, or on spurs connected thereto, are provided gun-blocks or emplacements, indicated by 6, of concrete or reinforced concrete as may be found necessary.

Each of these emplacements consists of a central solid portion 7 provided with a steel bed-plateS elevated a little higher than the level of the tracks. The lift section E) of the track running through the emplacement is of a special heavy rail and runs through grooves 10 provided in the section 7. The two rails comprising this section of the track are rigidly connected together g, and rest on hydraulic jacks 11, or other raising and lowering means, so as to present a continuation of the tracks 5 of the railroad, and each rail is provided with a lock, not shown, at each end to prevent the section from tilting up when the car bearing the gun comes onto it.

The jacks 11 are in recesses in the emplacement 6 on each side of the central section 7 to provide room for the operators in raising and lowering the car and the lift section supporting it.

The bed-plate, or base-ring 8, is provided with any suitable form of locking means, shown as bolts'12 and nuts 13 in the drawings, for securin the gun-carriage, or pedestal, firmly to the base-ring when in lowered position. It is obvious, of course, that the invention is not limited to the particular form of securing or anchoring means shown, the bolt and nut arrangement being merely indicative.

The operation of the arrangement is as follows:

The car 3 bearing the gun 1 on its carriage or mount 2 approaches and surmounts the gun-block or emplacement 6 remaining on its track, and is stopped when the gun-carriage is properly located over the bed-plate 8 on the gun-block. Accurate centering of the gun-carriage over the bed-plate is effected by the following means: movement of the car on the rails gives longitudinal movement, (b) the lift section of the track has slight play .transversely permitting transverse and skew movements, and (c) the guncarriage or mount is rotatable on its seat, permitting angular movement.

With the gun-carriage or pedestal 2 properly located, that section of the track over the gun-block supporting the car is then lowered by means of the jacks 11 until the weight of the gun and carriage comes on to the gun-block. The car, relieved .of its burden, still rests on the rails of the lift section, which carry no other load.

The-base of the gun-carriage or mount 2 (or pedestal, where that kind of mount is used) is set into the floor system of the car 3 in such a manner that when the car is lowered and the un-carriage comes into bearing on the beciplate 8 of the emplace ment, the car floor system continues to fall, breaking the joint between the car floor and the carriage, as shown at 14 in Fig. 3. this position the gun-mount is securely fastened to the emplacement, as indicated in Fig. 3, and the deck of the car can then be utilized as part of the loading platform.

The loadin platform, the level of which is indicated by dotted lines in the draw ings, may be of earth, wood, or concrete.

When the gun is to be moved to anotherlocation, the locking means are released and the car, resting entirely on the lift section and jacks, is raised up until the floor system of the car takes up the weight of the gun and carriage, and the whole unit is then ready for immediate transportation.

The size of'the gun-carriage base is immaterial, provided it can be transported on existing railroads, as it can extend beyond the rails, which, as indicated at 10, run in grooves orslots of the gun-block. The bedplate on thegun-block is, for the same purpose, made in three sections, a central section 8% and two side sections, 8 and 8, so that when in place there will be a continuation of the lot 10 in the gun-block through which the wheels of the car, resting on the lift section of the track may run. It is obvious that where a disappearing type of mount is used, the counter-weight Well, if used, could likewise be greater in diameter than the gage of the track, for the counterweight would be Wholly under the track, the latter being designed of suflicient strength to span the well while supporting its maximum load.

The cost of the emplacements built in accordance with this invention would be small, as they would consist merely of the reinforced concrete gun-block of suflicient dimensions and design to insure stability when the gun is fired; of a steel bedplate on the gun-block to receive the basering of the carriage; of bolts or other means to anchor the gun-carriage to the gunblock; of a counter-weight, in the case of disappearing guns; of an earth, wood, or concrete loading platform; and the necessary crane or other devices for transferring ammunition from the car in the rear of the emplacement to the gun; and of the jacks or other means for lowering and raising the tracks supporting the car, so as to transfer the weight of the gun and carriage from the car to the gun-block, and the reverse.

It will be noted that when the gun-carriage is in place, movement of the gun in azimuth permits all around fire, as this movement affects only the gun-carriage, the car floor being independent of the gun and its carriage, the car remaining at all times on the rails of the lift section.

Obviously, for each case, whether gun, howitzer or mortar, the car will be designed to suit the weight, dimensions, maximum elevation, caliber, and other features of the ordnance with which it is to be used. Similarly, the emplacements themselves would be of such size and construction and so reinforced as to bear the weight of the heaviest type of ordnance and resist the maximum strains incident to the firing thereof.

VHaving thus described the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to secure by Letters Patent is ering the car body and trucks with relation to the mount to bring the mount into load supporting position on said emplacement.

2. The combination of a railroad track, an emplacement over which said track passes, a car including a body of normal width and wheeled trucks therefor, a gun mount carrying a gun on said car body, means for lowering the car body and trucks with relation to the amount to bring the mount into load supporting position on said emplacement, and means to anchor the mount so supported to the emplacement.

3. The combination with a railroad track of a gun emplacement including a lift section of track which normally forms a continuation of the first track, a car carrying heavy ordnance adapted to be transported over the track, means to lower the lift section with the car thereon and means to thereby relieve the car of the weight of the ordnance.

l. The combination with a railroad track, of a gun emplacement including a lift section of track which normally forms a continuation of the first track, a car carrying heavy ordnance with the mount thereof extending below the car floor adapted to be transported over the track, means to lower the lift section with the car thereon, and a bed plate fastened on the emplacement cooperating with theordnance mount when the lift section is lowered to relieve the car of the weight of the ordnance on the further lowering of. the lift section bearing the car.

5. The combination witlt a railroad track of a gun emplacement including a lift section of track which normally forms a continuation of the first track, a car carrying heavy ordnance with the mount thereof extending below the car floor adapted to be transported over the track, means to lower the lift section with the car thereon, a bed plate fastened on the emplacement cooperating with theordnance mount when the lift section is lowered to relieve the car of the weight of the ordnance on the further lowering of the lift section bearing the car, and anchoring means to secure the mount to the bed plate and emplacement.

6. The combination with a railroad track of a gun emplacement including a lift section of track which normally forms a continuation of the first track, a car carrying heavy ordnance adapted to be transported over the track, means to lower the lift section with the car thereon, means to thereby relieve the car of the weight of the ordnance, and anchoring means to secure the mount to the emplacement.

7 In combination a railroad track, an emplacement over which the track passes, a car adapted to travel over said track, a gun carrying mount disposed on said car, and means for lowering the car with relation to the mount to place the latter in load supporting position on said emplacement.

GUSTAVE R. LUKESH. 

